Unraveling the interplay between NDVI, soil moisture, and snowmelt: A comprehensive analysis of the Tibetan Plateau agroecosystem

The rapid changing climate conditions within Tibetan Plateau determine the complex interaction between vegetation succession and agricultural water resources, including soil moisture and snowmelt. While previous studies have primarily focused on the coupling relationship between NDVI and soil moistu...

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Main Authors: Di Wei, Lin Yan, Ziqi Zhang, Jia Yu, Xue’er Luo, Yun Zhang, Bo Wang
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2025-03-01
Series:Agricultural Water Management
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Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378377425000204
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author Di Wei
Lin Yan
Ziqi Zhang
Jia Yu
Xue’er Luo
Yun Zhang
Bo Wang
author_facet Di Wei
Lin Yan
Ziqi Zhang
Jia Yu
Xue’er Luo
Yun Zhang
Bo Wang
author_sort Di Wei
collection DOAJ
description The rapid changing climate conditions within Tibetan Plateau determine the complex interaction between vegetation succession and agricultural water resources, including soil moisture and snowmelt. While previous studies have primarily focused on the coupling relationship between NDVI and soil moisture, snowmelt, as a critical water source in plateau ecosystems, plays an equally important role in regulating the water cycle. This study integrates MODIS remote sensing images and ERA5-Land meteorological reanalysis datasets to establish a ternary system encompassing NDVI, soil moisture, and snowmelt. Using geostatistical methods such as trend analysis, cross-correlation, random forest algorithm, and Granger causality, we explore the temporal dynamics and causal relationships among these ecological variables. Results indicate an overall increase in NDVI, a consistent decrease in snowmelt, and spatially heterogeneous changes in soil moisture across the Tibetan Plateau from 2001 to 2023. NDVI and soil moisture exhibit mostly instantaneous responses, with a brief one-month time-lag effect, while NDVI demonstrates a more pronounced lagged response to snowmelt. In grassland ecosystems, soil moisture lags behind snowmelt, whereas in woodlands, snowmelt lags behind soil moisture. Transitional vegetation zones reveal a regulatory feedback loop, where snowmelt predominantly influences soil moisture, which subsequently transitions to a bidirectional feedback mechanism between soil moisture and snowmelt as vegetation succession in woodland ecosystems. This study provides new insights into the feedback processes between vegetation growth and water resources in different ecological zones of Tibetan Plateau, guiding water management and sustainable development for agroecosystem.
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publishDate 2025-03-01
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spelling doaj-art-a8fe8dca6a3e4d84a9f5fbd0de12c1bf2025-01-25T04:10:55ZengElsevierAgricultural Water Management1873-22832025-03-01308109306Unraveling the interplay between NDVI, soil moisture, and snowmelt: A comprehensive analysis of the Tibetan Plateau agroecosystemDi Wei0Lin Yan1Ziqi Zhang2Jia Yu3Xue’er Luo4Yun Zhang5Bo Wang6Key Laboratory of Western China’s Environmental Systems (Ministry of Education), College of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, Gansu 730000, ChinaKey Laboratory of Western China’s Environmental Systems (Ministry of Education), College of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, Gansu 730000, ChinaKey Laboratory of Western China’s Environmental Systems (Ministry of Education), College of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, Gansu 730000, ChinaKey Laboratory of Western China’s Environmental Systems (Ministry of Education), College of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, Gansu 730000, ChinaKey Laboratory of Western China’s Environmental Systems (Ministry of Education), College of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, Gansu 730000, ChinaKey Laboratory of Western China’s Environmental Systems (Ministry of Education), College of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, Gansu 730000, China; Ministry of Education Engineering Research Center of Water Resource Comprehensive Utilization in Cold and Arid Regions, Lanzhou, Gansu 730000, China; Corresponding author at: Key Laboratory of Western China’s Environmental Systems (Ministry of Education), College of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, Gansu 730000, China.Key Laboratory of Western China’s Environmental Systems (Ministry of Education), College of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, Gansu 730000, China; Corresponding author.The rapid changing climate conditions within Tibetan Plateau determine the complex interaction between vegetation succession and agricultural water resources, including soil moisture and snowmelt. While previous studies have primarily focused on the coupling relationship between NDVI and soil moisture, snowmelt, as a critical water source in plateau ecosystems, plays an equally important role in regulating the water cycle. This study integrates MODIS remote sensing images and ERA5-Land meteorological reanalysis datasets to establish a ternary system encompassing NDVI, soil moisture, and snowmelt. Using geostatistical methods such as trend analysis, cross-correlation, random forest algorithm, and Granger causality, we explore the temporal dynamics and causal relationships among these ecological variables. Results indicate an overall increase in NDVI, a consistent decrease in snowmelt, and spatially heterogeneous changes in soil moisture across the Tibetan Plateau from 2001 to 2023. NDVI and soil moisture exhibit mostly instantaneous responses, with a brief one-month time-lag effect, while NDVI demonstrates a more pronounced lagged response to snowmelt. In grassland ecosystems, soil moisture lags behind snowmelt, whereas in woodlands, snowmelt lags behind soil moisture. Transitional vegetation zones reveal a regulatory feedback loop, where snowmelt predominantly influences soil moisture, which subsequently transitions to a bidirectional feedback mechanism between soil moisture and snowmelt as vegetation succession in woodland ecosystems. This study provides new insights into the feedback processes between vegetation growth and water resources in different ecological zones of Tibetan Plateau, guiding water management and sustainable development for agroecosystem.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378377425000204NDVISoil moistureSnowmeltBidirectional dependenceTibetan Plateau
spellingShingle Di Wei
Lin Yan
Ziqi Zhang
Jia Yu
Xue’er Luo
Yun Zhang
Bo Wang
Unraveling the interplay between NDVI, soil moisture, and snowmelt: A comprehensive analysis of the Tibetan Plateau agroecosystem
Agricultural Water Management
NDVI
Soil moisture
Snowmelt
Bidirectional dependence
Tibetan Plateau
title Unraveling the interplay between NDVI, soil moisture, and snowmelt: A comprehensive analysis of the Tibetan Plateau agroecosystem
title_full Unraveling the interplay between NDVI, soil moisture, and snowmelt: A comprehensive analysis of the Tibetan Plateau agroecosystem
title_fullStr Unraveling the interplay between NDVI, soil moisture, and snowmelt: A comprehensive analysis of the Tibetan Plateau agroecosystem
title_full_unstemmed Unraveling the interplay between NDVI, soil moisture, and snowmelt: A comprehensive analysis of the Tibetan Plateau agroecosystem
title_short Unraveling the interplay between NDVI, soil moisture, and snowmelt: A comprehensive analysis of the Tibetan Plateau agroecosystem
title_sort unraveling the interplay between ndvi soil moisture and snowmelt a comprehensive analysis of the tibetan plateau agroecosystem
topic NDVI
Soil moisture
Snowmelt
Bidirectional dependence
Tibetan Plateau
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378377425000204
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